Cuomo: NY Hospitals, Group Homes Can Have Visitors; US Open A Go

NEW YORK, NY — New York hospitals and group homes will be given the choice on whether to allow visitors, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.

Both hospitals and group homes will have to abide by state guidelines aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, including limiting the number of visits and requiring visitors to wear personal protective equipment, such as masks. Visitors will also be subject to symptom and temperature checks.

Group homes verified by the state Office for People With Developmental Disabilities will have to notify the state. They can allow visitations as early as Friday.

Cuomo noted that nursing homes are still not allowed to have visitors. He said, he'll allow it once he gets the go-ahead from state health officials, noting that as of now, the health department "doesn’t think the reward justifies the risk."

The professional U.S. Open tennis tournament will also be held in Queens, but will not have fans, he said. The event is planned from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13, and the USTA will take "extraordinary precautions" to protect players and staff, Cuomo said. This includes ample testing, additional cleaning, extra locker room space and dedicated housing and transportation.

The announcement comes as regions continued to hover around 1 percent when it comes to daily positive coronavirus tests. The state also announced the results of millions of antibody tests taken from May 1 through Saturday, June 13.

Overall, New York saw a 1.1 percentage point increase in the number of people who tested positive for antibodies from 12.3 percent to 13.4 percent.

New York City saw 19.9 percent positive antibody tests in early May, with a 1.6 percentage point increase in mid-June to 21.6 percent. Long Island, meanwhile, increased 2.7 percentage points from 11.4 percent to 14.1 percent, a region that Cuomo said the state has to watch. The Hudson Valley increased 0.5 percentage points from 9 percent to 9.5 percent.

The antibody tests also showed gaps along racial lines.

White people were the only group who saw their share of positive antibody tests decrease, falling 0.9 percentage points from 7 percent to 6.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Latino/Hispanic people saw the largest rise of any group, increasing from 25.4 percent to 30.4 percent, or 5 percentage points.

Black people saw an increase of 3.4 percentage points from 17.4 percent to 20.8 percent, Asian people saw an increase of 2.1 percentage points from 11.1 percent to 13.2 percent, and people in the multi/none/other category saw a 4.2 percentage point increase from 14.4 percent to 18.6 percent.

The number of people who died from the COVID-19 disease, which is caused by the coronavirus, remained at 25 on Monday. That includes 16 in hospitals and nine in nursing homes.

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